Daniel's TV Blog

I like TV and so should you

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Welcome Home Mr. President

In another kicks ass episode that changes so many things, it's hard to know where to start. From a technical point of view, the destruction of the Algae Planet by the nova was the best planetary destruction I've ever seen. The escape could have been a cool nail-biter but in an episode with so many dramatic parts, this was just a great sequence. The most awkward moment was when Apollo hugged Duala. I felt so bad for her. Here are the ways everything changed:

Cylon Xena is now permanent shelved.

Baltar has been captured by the humans. Let the trial begin!

Hera has been returned to her parents.

Caprica Six has surrendered to the humans. Will she be on trial for war crimes as well?

Starbuck has something inside her that will lead her to a big destiny. Is she one of the final five Cylons?

Monday, January 22, 2007

Prison Break returns

Watching Prison Break requires a highly level of suspension of disbelief than Heroes, LOST, or BattlestarGalactica. Events on this show are very, very implausible. Still it's quite entertaining. Tonight the season resumes where it left off with Burrows and Scofield narrowly escaping Agent Mahone with the unlikely assistance of evil-doer Kellerman. Still at large are T-Bag, C-Note, Sucre, and the mostly forgotten Haywire. The best twist of the year is the incarceration of the other evil-doer Bellick at Fox River. Bellick was the former head correctional officer there. It is not likely he will survive very long. This makes for a great plot-point, but the swift timing of this all was hard to believe. I would love to see Dr. Sara and Kellerman face off again. She's awesome.

Heroes: Are You on the List?

Heroes is the coolest new show of the year. Tonight Heroes returns at 9:00. NBC has a season recap on line if you want to catch up. The show has been unfolding in such a different way than any other show. Many of the characters have never even met. It's like a bunch of disconnected storylines playing out. Slowly the Heroes are meeting. Claire has met Peter. Peter has met future Hiro. Hiro has met Nathan. Nathan has met Niki. Etc. There's still so much we don't know:

Who are Claire's real parents?

Does Mr. Bennet have any powers?

Why did the Haitian spare Claire of the memory wipe?

What will happen to Niki in jail?

Will Peter blow up NY by mimicking the power of radioactive Ted?

What's with the RNA symbol that keeps reappearing?

How does Syler steal people's powers by cutting out their brain?

and the biggest question: What gave the Heroes their powers?

Tonight we are introduced to a new Hero. The biggest hero problem is Jack Bauer on 24 which airs at the same time. Last week's premier was explosively good. Luckily I have two TiVos.

DtvB: Spoiler Policy

I've been informed from multiple sources that I need to cut down on the spoilers. So here's my new policy about spoilers:

I will wait 5-7 days before spoiling any elimination shows such as : Survivor, Project Runway, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, etc. I reserve the right to spoil the first episode of The Amazing Race within 2 days.

I will wait 3 days before spoiling any drama or SciFi show. I really, really want to do a post about last night's Battlestar, but I'll wait until Wednesday.

I will continue to do a LOST recap on Thursdays after the new episode but I won't put a plot spoiler in the title.

Extra funny scenes from sit-coms could show up in YouTube form within one day, but I will not spoil anything about the episode in the title of the blog entry.

When I'm not out of town (like the next two weekends), I'll do a YouTube coverage of Best Week Ever, but I won't put who had the best week ever in the title.

And here's another bit of administrative news. Blogspot doesn't play well with Safari so I haven't posted as much from home as I'd like to. Now that I've installed Firefox on my MacBook, I should be able to have better posts from home included YouTube clips, corrected spelling, and links.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Super Friends

Tonight Clark and Oliver team up with past super-heros Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash in an episode titled "League". The unite to fight the growing theat of the Legion of Doom, aka Lex's Level 33.1. This is where he's been collection meteor rock freaks and assembling them into his own army.

Last year Smallville sucked big time. This year the stories are good but they just seem to not care about details that bug me. Is Clark still going to college? Why is everyone in Smallville one minute and Metropolis the next? I thought it was a three hour drive. And why add Lois and Jimmy? They aren't supposed to meet until after Clark completes his training. What's up with that?

The Scrubs Musical!

I love Scrubs and tonight's episode should be really, really good. It's the long awaited musical episode. When a patient checks into Sacred Heart complaining of always hearing music, the hospital crew sing their way through the episode, presumably from her musical point of view. Scrubs is known for doing fun and crazy stuff like this. My favorite was when JD fantasized what his life would be like as a sit-com while treating one of the writers from Cheers. Set your TiVos.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

American Idol

It's the sixth time around for American Idol. (Quick! Name all five winners!) The last two years have earned stellar ratings for the biggest talent show in the world. Occasionally I consider watching again. I watched the first season, but never again. It's such a cultural phenomenon it's hard to resist. But then I think about the annoying drawn out drama during the results show and I remember why I don't watch. Plus Ryan Seacrest is a douche bag. Maybe I'll watch a little bit of the try-outs this week. They auditioned here in Seattle.

Thursday Night is the Big Winner at the Golden Globes

I don't watch award shows. They are more boring than 520 bridge traffic. At least you know the traffic is going to end at some point. So I didn't watch the Golden Globes last night. Instead I watch the 24 second night premier. Here's the TV breakdown:

Best Drama - Grey's Anatomy

Actress Drama - Kyra Sedgwick - The Closer

Actor Drama - Hugh Laurie - House

Best Comedy - Ugly Betty

Actress Comedy - America Ferrera - Ugly Betty

Actor Comedy - Alec Baldwin - 30 Rock

Best Mini-Series - Who cares

Of the six main awards, four went to Thursday Night. Thus I declare Thursday Night the big winner in this year's Golden Globe Awards. Congratulations!

Friday, January 12, 2007

Dixie Longate on 1 vs. 100

Tonight don't miss 1 vs. 100 on NBC. This is the game show where one contestant answer the same question as 100 members of "the mob". Any time a member of the 100 misses one, they are out and the prize money goes up proportionally. Often they have groups in the mob like cheerleaders, brain surgeons, Rhodes Scholars, etc. Tonight they have a group of drag queens including my favorite, Dixie Longate. I've included a picture of us taken last January. She's the top selling Tupperware Lady in all the US. Really, she is.

The Rurr Jerr

30 Rock is getting better and better. It might just be the funniest show on television right now. Last night's episode had me laughing so hard. Jenna's movie, The Rural Juror, is about to be released and she goes on the View to promote it. No one knows the name of the film from Jenna pronunciation so everyone is eager to watch the show to figure it out. Ratchel Dratch is brilliant as Barbara Walters. This is her sixth appearance on the show, always playing difference characters. I've included a clip of her scenes:

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

BBC America

Last night I was talking to fellow TV enthuthiest and friend of DtvB, Drew. He was wondering why BBC America waits so long to show stuff in America after it debuts in the UK. That's a good question. Why don't they? I don't see any reason we have to wait six months to see the new seasons of Life on Mars, Footballers Wives, or Little Britian. Why can't they debut the episodes here the same week or only a few weeks later? It doesn't seem fair. Popular US shows run only a week or two behind the US showing when airing overseas. And when are we going to get to see the new Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood. Series one just completed in the UK. Is it going to be on BBC America or the Sci Fi Channel. I want to know!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

I Love New York

So VH1 rolled out their new line-up of celebreality shows this week, including: Shooting Sizemore, Sureal Life Fame Games, White Rapper, and Hogan Knows Best season 3. I'm most interested in I Love New York. This is a "Bachelorette" style dating show with Tiffany "New York" Patterson. She was on both seasons of Flavor of Love. You may remember her as the one who got spit on by ousted contestant Pumpkin. I don't understand why anyone would want to compete over Flavor Flav. He is seriously gross. At least New York is an attractive woman, even if she is completely bat shit crazy. In the first episode we met all of her male suitors, including "Romance" the crazy dog guy, "Rico" in hot but inappropriate Latin lover, "Mr. Boston" the boring accountant, and "Chance" the gansta. There are lots of great guys for New York, but it's clear she likes Chance. New York's mother was visiting for the first episode and she and Chance had a huge blow-out. She insisted that he leave. So of course, New York picks him to stay. It's clear she will always go after the wrong guy. Also along for this train wreck is her way-to-gay assistant Chamo.

Monday, January 08, 2007

Gay, Straight, or Taken?

Tonight is the debut of the Lifetime show Gay, Straight, or Taken? On the show a women goes out with three different men, one from each category. I don't know what the daters win for choosing properly or fooling the women. There have been two gay/straight dating shows in the past, both have failed miserably. Maybe this will be entertaining enough to be success.

Friday, January 05, 2007

The Apprentice: L.A.

I think The Apprentice has officially jumped the shark. The show has moved to L.A. and to Sunday nights. The Donald's ego trip is hopefully coming to an end. He totally ruined the franchise last year when he had three Apprentice shows in one season, two running concurrently in the fall. He blamed his failure on Martha, but it was all his mismanagement that lead the the failure of her show. Other than Martha, he's fired two other women from his show who were becoming celebrities. In 2005 he fired his long-time assistant Robin because she was becoming "a prima donna". Last summer he fired Carolyn from the show and the golf courses she ran. It's obvious that if he is not the sole center of attention, he will have a tantrum. I say we all start "I Love Ivanka" websites and see how long it takes him to fire his own daughter. I have no respect for Donald anymore.

Now then there's his whole Rosie feud. I lost all respect for Rosie in 1999 when she got all outspoken about violence with Tom Seleck and then the same month appeared on Ally McBeal in yet another storyline where Ally solved her problem with violence. I can't deal with hypocritical people. With that being said, I still think Donald was a jerk for calling her a slob. He should stick to facts and skip the personal attacks. Are they in sixth grade? Even though I don't have any respect for either of them, I still think Rosie is a talented comedienne who always makes me laugh. She should just skip the commentary on current events.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

The Knights of Prosperity

ABC debuts its new comedy tonight, The Knights of Prosperity. Its about a bunch of losers who decide to form a "gang" and rob Mick Jager's New York apartment. Mick himself makes a cameo in the first episode. It's been getting back buzz all around but I think it could be funny, especially from the clips I've seen on abc.go.com.

It's on in LOST's timeslot. I don't know where it will go in February when LOST returns. Perhaps it won't even last that long.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Dirt

If you watched Nip/Tuck this season, you couldn't miss the onslaught of commercials for the new series Dirt. Well it starts tonight. It stars Courteney Cox, who you may remember from the Bruce Springstein video "Dancing in the Dark", as the head of a tabloid magazine. I think Courteney Cox was also on Family Ties for a season and I hear she was on some show in the 90's. Dirt is supposed to be a sexy and glamorous take on the world of gossip publishing such the way Nip/Tuck is made plastic surgeons sexy and glamorous. It starts tonight at 10 on FX. If you miss it, don't worry. I'm sure it will be repeated several times over the next week. That's the joy of watching a network with only big show.

About Me

I love TV. Movies are great but there's so much more story and character development that can be accomplished in episodic television. Since I started unwittingly studying television over 25 years ago I've noticed many patterns and advancements. I will share my views, opinions, and TV news several times a week. Please leave your own comments.